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Friday, February 28, 2014

Andalusia is one of the most popular and second largest community in Spain, their cuisine is very much varied depending upon the region itself. Most popular dish of Andalusian cuisine is their famous gazpacho the chilled soup which we never forget to make during summer. This cuisine is completely a Mediterranean diet based on olive oil,cereals, legumes, vegetables, fish,dried fruits,nuts and meat, there also have this great tradition of drinking wine during having food.

You may wonder why am talking about Andalusia and their cuisine,yep for this month International Food Challenge ,a monthly event started by two wonderful food bloggers Sara and Shobana we are landing towards Spain. The host of this month Shey Divine chosed 4 incredible Andalusian dishes and i chosed this Andalusian courgetter tortillas. Usually Tortillas are flour based round shaped thin flatbread, but here tortillas means omelette. Also courgette is nothing the famous zero caloric zucchini.This tortilla suits prefectly as a side for a bowl of soup, if you like caloric food for your starter you can still enjoy this tortillas as bite sized pieces.

We know that dairy free means avoiding completely milk,butter,cheese and many more dairy products from our daily meanu. Nowadays some people are allergic to dairy products and they cant tolerate it,obviously we get so many alternatives now in the market. Paneer is replaced by tofu and milk is replaced very well with soyamilk,ricemilk,almond milk or by coconut milk.Do you know that Milk and cheese have no fiber, dairy products can gives constipation to children.However most of us cant give up dairy products as they are main part of our menu.

March is going to be a Dairy free month in my space, yes am hosting Only Dairy Free event, a monthly event started by Pari, this event is running successfully since 2010.Am happy to host this event in my space though i missed hosting once.Eventhough i cant survive without a cup of milk or cheese, i do quite often dairy free foods in my kitchen. Since i want to explore more about this dairy free foods, i opted Dairy free theme for this month's event. Now am waiting eagerly to see all your innovative,delicious, very irresistible dairy free foods.Do cook dairy free dishes and dont forget to link it so that your dishes may be very helpful for many whoever want to cook dairy free dishes in future.

Rules:
Any number of fresh entries can be sent but only two recipes from archives will be accepted.

The entries will not be accepted in case of failing to follow this rule.

Link your entries using the Inlinkz tools. Those participating in the giveaway (anyone who can provide an address in India) enter under Giveaway participation entries category else link under Non participants of the giveaway.Please enter your entry only once in one of the inlinkz tools.

Use of logo is compulsory as it helps spread the word.

In case you have a difficulty in using Inlinkz tool, mail me to Priyasuresh09@gmail.comCook book as a giveaway is sponsored by Tarla Dalal.
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The giveaway is shipped only in India and only to the Followers of Pari's Blog. You can follow her blog through Google Friend connect or Google plus publicly.

I cannot win the giveaway being the guest host of this month, also i will post the round up with a week after the event completion.

One more baking event i have missed during my stay in India was Baking Eggless,a monthly event owned by Gayathri. For this month's Baking Eggless challenge, Gayathri chosed egg over loaded cinnamon swirl brioche from Barbara Bakes. Yes this brioche goes for 8 large eggs which i cant imagine in my baking, thank god i didnt broken my head to find out an alternative replacement for eggs. I replaced the eggs with custard powder and silken tofu, both worked wonder in this brioche and this fabulous bread turned out extremely spongy, delicious with a wonderful cinnamon flavour.

Bread making at home is an art and its definitely a stress buster,i seriously missed baking bread at home since three months and finally am enjoying baking variety of breads since a week at home. Thanks to each and every baking events going around in this virtual world. My kids are nt that much fan of cinnamon bakes, so i deduced the quantity of the ingredients than the original recipe went for. But seriously i regret for it, for my surprise my kids enjoyed thoroughly this bread with their cup of milk for their evening snacks.Thanks Gayathri, this challenge is seriously very interesting and i loved baking this fantastic brioche.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

After making some fingerlicking gravy with betel leaves, here comes an interesting Indian soup aka rasam.This betel leaves aka vethallai rasam goes for simple preparation, for this dish you doesnt need rasam powder we usually go for rasam. A grounded spice mixture is enough to make this flavourful,very delicious rasam. Actually i have tasted this rasam long back at one of my aunt's home, trust me i never want to make or taste this betel leaves rasam ever, but since ever i heard about the medicinal value of this incredible leaves, i seriously want to make this rasam. Finally i tried at home with my aunt's help and everyone at home had this fabulous dish with a simple spicy potato fry for their lunch two days back.

If you want to try something different from the usual one, you have to give a try this green rasam, this rasam will definitely help you for easy digestion.Obviously if you get betel leaves easily dont forget to give a try this fantastic dish.Today is the last thursday of the month and its time to post for Vegan Thursdays, an vegan event running twice.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Personally i think Malai kofta doesnt need any specific introduction, its a very rich curry prepared with paneer-potato combo fried balls dropped into a very rich creamy onion,tomato and cashew paste based gravy. Actually Malai kofta curry may sounds very complicated to make at home but its not that much difficult curry, they may go for a list of spices but trust me if you have everything at home, you can make this delectable dish within few minutes. Coming to today's dish, Malai kofta was our this month's challenge for South vs North Challenge an event owned by Divya Pramil. I missed the January month challenge and i dont want to miss this month's challenge, so yesterday i prepared this malai kofta dish challenged by Nupur of Uk Rasoi.

The theme of this event is to exchange an Indian recipe between two teams. One team is Southern team (food bloggers born and brought in South India) and the another one team is Northern team (food bloggers born and brought in North India). Every first of a month, a blogger from each team will challenge a recipe from their origin and the opposite team have to cook the recipe challenged by the other team. If you want to be a part of this challenge, dont forget to join us, just send a mail to the Divya and get ready to face the challenge every month.Thanks Nupur, i got so many appreciation from my family coz of this utterly delicious malai kofta, i served this dish with phulkas since this dish is very much rich in calorie. If you are making Malai kofta for your dinner or lunch, dont forget to make low calorie dishes just to compensate calories in this fingerlicking rich curry.

Monday, February 24, 2014

Focaccia is an Italian bread, the name Focaccia originates from the ancient Roman 'Panis Focacius' which was a flatbread that was baked on the hearth. Focaccia is quite different from Pizza not only in their shape but also the way they are prepared. Traditionally Focaccia had the topping ingredients kneaded into the dough while pizza has it on the top of the dough. Also an Italian pizza crust goes for thinner side like not than 1/2inch thick while Focaccia is atleast about 3/4inch thick. In old days, Focaccia had any toppings except oil and herbs for the flavour this is why there is always a confusion between the focaccia and pizza.

Focaccia dough goes for lot of oil, oil is brushed and drizzled while the dough gets baked, this makes the dough more spongy when compared to Pizza. However focaccia served with a bowl of warm soup will definitely makes a filling dinner. I have missed few baking events during my stay in India, am slowly catching up with those missed events and my oven is turned up since two days after a long rest. Kids are happy that finally their mom is baking some wonderful bakes. Watelse we need, coming to this Focaccia,this bread was January month Challenge of We Knead To Bake, a monthly baking event by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen. Also sending this fabulous focaccia to Love2Bake, a weekly event happening every monday at Sangee's space.

Sunday, February 23, 2014

After three month complete rest,finally i turned up my oven for baking today. My today's bake goes for Home Baker's Challenge, a monthly baking event where we bake varieties of baked goodies every month.Sharanya of Just Not The Cake, the host of January month suggested an interesting theme and the theme for the month is 'American Food Holidays'.

Do you know that : January 6 - National Shortbread day .
January 16 - National Fig Newton day.
January 21 - National Granola Bar day.
January 22 - National Blonde brownie day .
January 23 - National Pie day .
January 29 - National Corn chip day

Quite interesting na!!

Coming to today's post, i chosed Blonde brownies suggested by Sharanya from 6 wonderful bakes she went for. Happy that i baked this fantastic brownies and everyone at home simply enjoyed these irresistible brownies, trust me they just vanished within few minutes. I just followed the original recipe suggested by Sharanya and didnt changed anything. If you want to make small batch of these blondies just divide the quantity of ingredients as half and just go on.Am sure you will regret if you prepare these blondies in small batches coz they are seriously very addictive and everyone at home will definitely bug you to make again.Thanks Sharanya, for pulling me to make these wonderful blondies.Its 4th sunday of the month and since i belong to a group of friends who blogs on sunday for the event Let's Brunch On Sundays am posting this fantastic blondies.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Life is becoming a roller coaster for me, three months stay in hometown changed my life style a lot. Dont talk about the jetlag,am suffering very much with it. Am sleeping and eating as per Indian time, early wakeup is just killing me.Hope within a week, everything will be alrite. Without any delay let me start with an another guest post by a wonderful blogger. Yea its 20th February and am here with my monthly event called Rendez Vous with a Foodie, an event i have started a year back. If you are my follower,you might have noticed that every 7th and 20th of the month i'll be introducing a newbie blogger to this immense virtual world.I know that my co-bloggers aka my virtual sisters will definitely join their hands to make this event a big success and trust me they proved that,yes this event is a big hit. I have to say big thanks to each and everyone for giving me this immense support since a year.Next month is going to be the first anniversary of this event,happy to say that 22 bloggers have already written a guest post specially for me,obviously i feel honoured and blessed.

My today's guest is one of my favourite blogger Savitha Ramesh of Savitha's Kitchen, she blogs since 2010,she shares many authentic dishes from Tamil Nadu and from many more cuisines. Dont ask me about her baking skills, she was just amazing and one of her post French Yule Log Cake will speaks a lot about this. If you are her friend in FB, you might have crossed many beautiful cake she prepared for many special occasions like Valentine's day; birthdays etc, seriously i wish to have some patience as much as Savitha especially when its come from cake decorating. Actually i crossed Savitha through this immense world before two years and immediately i started following here,since ever i have became an ardent fan of her space.

Have you ever seen her detailed post about Kumbakonam Degree Coffee aka Filter Coffee, if not seriously your are missing something. If you are a coffee lover like me, you cant stop yourself drooling over her fabulous post about our morning raaga aka filter coffee. I can talk for hours about Savitha's space without any break,dont forget to go through her space if you are in search for Authentic South Indian dishes that too she shares her posts with stepwise pictures. Obviously,am sure that whoever started cooking recently wont go wrong after going through her stepwise pictures.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

After making an interesting side dish with plantain stem and dal as thogayal, here comes an another interesting drink with healthy plantain stem. In India especially South Indians makes juice with this healthy plantain stem and they drink earlier in the morning to get ride of kidney stones. If you walk earlier in the morning,you can see peoples drinking plantain stem juice, wheat grass juice, aleo vera juice etc. The juice list goes for a long, but instead of making a simple juice with plantain stem i tried my hands in making this interesting, spicy and delicious masala lassi.

Actually, my kids doesnt liked the juice with plantain stem which i tried long back. Since i want to feed them with this healthy stem i transformed that usual juice into interesting lassi. Trust me, the mild flavour of ginger,cumin and chaat masala powder will definitely make the difference, they have masked completely the addition of plantain stem. But the colour of the lassi will be bit different from the usual one. Try making this lassi, am sure you will prepare this lassi quite often.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Betel Leaves are well known for their digestive values, we might have seen our grand parents having this incredible leaves after their lunch for easy digestion. Boiled betel leaves water can be a great remedy for treating cough, also these leaves have enough health benefits for the people who suffers a lot of respiratory problems..I have seen my mom applying slightly warmed oil coated betel leaves in my brother's chest whenever he suffers from cough. Actually we can include betel leaves in our daily menu by making few variety of foods with it.

One of my recent trial with this wonderful leaves is this tangy gravy. Actually i want to make rasam aka Indian soup with this leaves but i changed my mind and prepared this fingerlicking tangy kaarakuzhambu. You may wonder how i got this much fresh betel leaves in Paris,i carried 10Rs worth betel leaves from India and am using them in a better way. Stay tuned for some more dishes am dishing out from my kitchen with this interesting betel leaves.

Monday, February 17, 2014

Its really wonderful to write a fresh post after a long, yes am back to my nest after a long stay in my hometown. Three months stay without my family wasnt that much fun but thank god i have been constantly supported by my followers and by my friends aka blogger buddies who are very close to my heart.Am happy to write this post after a long that too a dish i prepared with fresh plaintain stem i carried all the way from India. After a day travel in flight, the first thing came to my mind is to make some hot piping rasam rice and a dal chutney to go along with.

But finally i ended up with plantain stem and dal combination of chutney aka thogayal. Seriously if you dont like having plantain stem either in kootu or poriyal, just give a try to this thogayal am sure this South Indian style chutney will definitely tickle your tastebuds.Since raw plantain stem are well known for their medicinal value, its really adviced to intake them quite often. Dont forget to give a try to this wonderful thogayal if you get super fresh plantain stem.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Its peak season for pomegranates and they are dead cheap in our nearby farmer's market, obviously my H got a kilo of super sweet pomegranates. After having them in salad and as juices, there were still some pomegranates sitting sadly in my fruit basket, none at home want to have them either in salad or as juice, instead of making them again as a juice, i tried my hands in making this healthy, very refreshing shake with pomegranate seeds,rolled oats and vanilla icecream. Seriously this combo works wonder and whoever told 'no' to the pomegranate juice, will definitely enjoy thoroughly this healthy shake.

If you dont have pomegranate,just add any seasonal fruits like apples,pears,pineapples in this shake, am sure you will definitely love this healthy shake thoroughly. Also you can have this shake anytime of the day, even for breakfast during summer. This shake is a big hit among my kids, obviously this shake is a kid's friendly drink.

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Spinach is one of our family favourite greens and i have always a packet of frozen spinach in my freezer, so that i can make any dish out of it. While cleaning my freezer recently i crossed some frozen spinach leaves sitting sadly in my freezer, since they were less in quantity i tried my hands in making this interesting,healthy and nutritious paratha. Yes this paratha is highly nutritious coz i used moongdal in them. I finished a quarter cup of mushy moongdal which is prepared for making sambhar finally went on into this paratha along with those frozen spinach leaves.

Actually i didnt used spinach as puree, thats y my parathas are not looking green, while kneading i just added both the frozen spinach leaves and mushy moongdal together in the wheat flour to get a smooth dough. Personally i loved the softness of these parathas and we loved having this with an incredible salna i prepared with butterbeans.Check here for the butter beans salna, both tastes fabulous together and we had a superfilling dinner.Its 2nd sunday of the month and since i belong to a group of friends who blogs on sunday for the event Let's Brunch On Sundays am posting this fantastic soft parathas.

Friday, February 7, 2014

Every 7th and 20th of a month,you guys would have noticed that am inviting few of my new buddies to share their guest post in my space, seriously am blessed to get this much generous friends in this virtual world.Twice a month am introducing newbie bloggers to this immense blogging virtual world, just to showcase their blogs with their guest posts they prepred specially for me. Since ever i started this event, its running with huge success and all my guests never surprised me with their humble and delicious dishes.Today is one more fantastic blogger who never stopped sharing many traditional and many more stunning foods.

She is Sathya Priya of My Kitchen Odyssey, she shares many beautiful Chettinad dishes in her space along with some International foods too. Seriously Sathya Priya is a newbie blogger and her blog is just six months old.She left a comment asking whether she can make a guest post for me, how wonderful na,obviously i mailed her with the details and trust me she send me back her guest post within three days. Thanks to Sathya for being this much fast so that i can schedule the guest post for today before two months earlier coz i'll be in India while this post is up in my space. Coming to Sathya Priya's space, if you are an ardent fan of Chettinad cuisine dont forget to go through her space, some of my favourite dishes from her space are Vellai Paniyaram,tongue tickling Maangai Pachadi and the list goes on.

1)Tell us about your blog and you?
I am sathyaPriya new blogger.I started blogging 6 months ago .My blogsite is My Kitchen Odyssey.In my blog you can see lots of chettinad dishes and other dishes that we love .My theme is do it from scratch and be healthy.

2)Before and after blogging, tell us what blogging changed your life?

I feel alone all the time after i come to US so wanted to have some friends and the neighbourhood here is like a city, all ppl are busy with their work.I should have a hobby /friends to keep me busy.So that why i started to blog .

I always wanted to try many new dishes and want to impress my husband and kid.I usually forget the recipe which i do.thats how i started to write .So i can keep track of my recipes and inspire others to cook.

4)There are a tonsof blogs/pages on food these days, what accordingto you is the speciality of your blog and the food you cook?

I come from karaikudi where chettinad food is very famous.So i cook chettinad specalities and all of the dishes i share are totally made from scratch (home made) .I always try to give step by step pictures for the beginers to cook with ease .And last but not least i always want to eat a healthy food and give viewers a healthy food.

5) When it comes to cooking, who is your inspiration?

My First insipiration is grandma .Always she used to cook diff varieties and love to feed us.

Next is my mother-in -law she cooks delicious food with in minutes .I wonder how she is so quick.And ofcourse my mom she always do fresh and 3 diff veggies when we were kids.So love her freshness and affection.My friends,relatives list is countless.

6)Every newbie blogger faces tons of challenges when its comes to blogging, tell me about one of the challenges you faced and how did you overcome it?

First when i started blogging i dont know how and where to start.Then after few days of research i found guest post is a wonderful intro for a new blogger.so was thinking of guest posting .

But i am a new blogger ,how will i do that.when i shared my post in google plus i came to know linsy .She is a very wonderful person .I did a guest post in her blog and got a very good introduction.

7)What is your best recipe and your favourite recipes you have blogged till now?

Pineapple salsa is my favourite.Because its very diff from what i do everyday .Its very healthy ,easy recipe.

8)Few tips about food photography?

When your viewers see your blog your photo gives them the first impression .If its impressive they start reading further.I mean the photo should be appetizing.

When i started my blog i am zero in photography .Now i know how to present the food .

9)What is your budget for the props,do you have any or else do you manage with your household stuffs?

I will manage with my household stuff itself.I always wanted to make a recipe with the things i have in my hand.That is a challenge to me.When there is a baking recipe i will get them apart from my budget.

10)How do you plan your blog posts? Do you post rarely,regularly or once a week?

I post alteast 3-4 post a week.

11)Do you have any other passions apart from food blogging or blogs you own?

I love to save money apart from blogging.So used to collect coupons.now i dont have time to collect them.Photography ,music ,designing are the few fields i love .

Pal Kolukattai:

I grew up in Karaikudi a relatively well known town in the chettinad region of Tamilnadu. Chettinad region boasts of palatial houses and chettinad food is famous world over renowned for the uses of aromatic spices.There are a few dessert dishes unique to chettinad and paal kozhukattai is one among them.

This is my mom's recipe.She used to grind the rice dough by soaking the rice and grinding it in wet grinder. When we were kids during holidays my mom used engage us a little by asking us to shape the kozhukattai. We used to have lots of fun with the dough.

I thought of making this the traditional way but was a little sceptical because of the complexity. Also I was a little worried that my daughter would use this as substitute for her play-doh.

So I did it the easy way and got it done in no time.

Preparation time:5 min

Cooking time:15 min

Serves:2-3

Ingredients:

1 cup rice flour

1 cup jaggery

4 1/2 cups water+1 cup

2 tbs coconut

Murukku press

Method:

heat one cup of water until it bubbles.

Sieve the rice flour and place it in a mixing bowl and add the heated water to it and mix well.

The dough is ready.

Keep the murukku press handy.

Heat 4 1/2 cups of water until it boils (Until bubbles rise).

Separate the dough in to 2 and roll them between your palms to a large cylindrical pieces.

Keep the dough inside the press and start pressing it (It might split in between but keep pressing).

Lower the heat and get the second part inside the press.

Pic3 shows the traditional method of rolling the kozhukattais

Increase the flame and press the second part of the dough into the hot water.

In the mean time grate the jaggery and remove the impurities.

Wait until the dough boils and rice dumplings become opaque.

Add the filtered jaggery and stir it until everything starts thickening.

Finally add coconut and cardomom and switch off the flame.

Paal kozhukattai is ready to be served .

Note:

It will be piping hot ,serve after it cools down a little.

1 cup is the right level amount of jaggery . But you can adjust according to your taste and jaggery nature.

Cardamom is optional.

Add more coconut if you like to taste it more in the dish.

Thanks very much for this great opportunity priya.

Hope you all enjoyed this droolworthy Pal Kolukattais cooked up by Sathya Priya, stay tuned for an another guest post by an another blogger soon.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

How about making a beautiful rice dish with both gooseberries and lemon?.Actually i prepared this rice coz of less quantity of gooseberries and lemon i had in my fridge. Since both goes awesome in rice, i thought of combining them both together for making this incredible, simple rice. Trust me this rice tastes absolutely fabulous and you can pack them easily for a lunch box. This tangy rice goes for an easy preparation as much as like lemon rice. The addition of grated gooseberries gives a fabulous taste and mild sweet tanginess to this simple rice.

Dont hesitate a second to give a try to this fabulous combination, give an interesting twist to the usual lemon rice by adding gooseberries to them or vice versa. With a spicy side dish, am sure everyone at home will definitely enjoy this rice very much.Today is the first thursday of the month and its time to post for Vegan Thursdays, an vegan event running twice.